Person Biography:
Margerie Bonner Lowry was born Marjorie Bonner on July 18, 1905. She grew up in a conventional American girlhood until her sister Priscilla left home to pursue a career in Hollywood. This sparked Margerie's own dreams, and at the age of 14, she persuaded her family to allow her to quit school and join Priscilla in Hollywood.
Margerie's early career foundered, and she worked as an artist at the Disney studios, a radio scriptwriter and editor, and eventually became a personal assistant to Penny Singleton. She changed her name to Margerie Bonner and met her future husband, Malcolm Lowry, in 1938. They married in 1940 and had a tumultuous relationship marked by Lowry's struggles with alcoholism and his genius as a writer.
During their marriage, Margerie played an important role in Lowry's writing, taking notes and helping him develop his semi-autobiographical stories and novels. She was a stabilizing force in his life, and her notes and suggestions were often credited with saving his work.
After Lowry's death in 1957, Margerie managed his literary legacy, completing and editing his unfinished works. She edited several posthumous publications, including Selected Letters, Selected Poems, and short stories and poems. She also co-wrote a screenplay with Lowry and wrote novels of her own in the 1940s.
Margerie's life with Malcolm Lowry is documented in two important biographies, Malcolm Lowry by Douglas Day and Pursued by Furies by Gordon Bowker.
